Of the 31 teams in the American Hockey League, the Binghamton Devils’ penalty-kill unit ranked last heading in Saturday’s game against the Belleville Senators.

On this night, the Devils killed five penalties, including a 5-on-3 that lasted for 67 seconds in the third period. Those efforts helped propel Binghamton to a 3-1 victory before 3,137 fans at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.

“It was (good),” Binghamton coach Mark Dennehy said of his specialty unit. “Kevin Rooney is the captain and he’s the leader of that penalty kill. He did a great job as did others. It’s been getting better. There are a couple outlier games where we gave up three or four that kind of skew the statistics. We believe over the last month it’s been getting better. … I thought we were aggressive, we pressured and it was effective.”

Binghamton (12-15-3-0), which received goals from John Ramage, Nathan Bastian and Michael McLeod, has won two of its last three. The Devils travel to play the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday.

Third period

With the Devils holding a 2-1 lead, Josh Jacobs took a delay of penalty with 6:35 into the period and then Brandon Gignac was called for tripping 53 secoonds later, leaving Belleville with a two-man advantage for 1:07.

The Senators, who played home games at the Arena from 2002-2017, managed one shot during that time.

“That was a huge kill, a huge momentum swing for us,” said goalie Cam Johnson, who stopped 17 shots. “The guys played unbelievably tonight. They’ve been playing great the past few games. It’s good, we’ve been able to get wins and get the results we’ve been looking for.”

The B-Devils’ ability to win faceoffs proved critical for its penalty-kill.

“Blake Speers won some early in the second period, Roons won a couple big ones,” Dennehy said. “With the new rule change, they get to pick which side you draw on. You need to have guys on both hands who take draws. Thankfully, we have a couple guys on each who can win.”

With under three minutes remaining, Belleville pulled goalie Marcus Hogberg for an extra skater. Soon after, McLeod beat Paul Carey to a puck just outside the Senators’ blue line and scored into empty net to cap the scoring with 2:40 left.

“Getting four out of six points this week was important,” Dennehy said.

Second period

The teams exchanged goals in the middle period.

Bastian scored his eighth of the year with 13:42 left in the period. He received a pass from Mike McLeod on the right side on a 2-on-1 and kept it himself. He shot low to the near post to give the B-Devils a 2-0 lead.

The play started with Eric Tangradi winning the puck along the left boards and passing ahead to McLeod, who slapped it right to Bastian.

“Everyone made a great play on that one,” Bastian said. “I think Tango was strong on the wall, Mikey managed to get it over. That low-glove shot is one I’d say I work on quite a bit. Finally got one and it managed to work.”

Belleville halved its deficit with 8:02 into the period. Adam Tambellini was free on the left side near the faceoff circle and drove one to the far post. The puck caromed off the right post and into the goal.

Earlier in the period, the Senators’ Christian Wolanin rang a shot loudly off the right post.

First period

The B-Devils opened the scoring 5:39 into play.

Brian Ward had possession in the left corner and skated toward the goal. He then centered a pass from behind the net to Ramage, whose one-timer beat Hogberg to the left post. It was Ramage’s fourth of the season.

“We capitalized on the chances we had,” Dennehy said. “We’re a long way away, but that’s playoff hockey. You don’t see 5-1, 6-1 games in the playoffs very often. It’s usually one-goal games. Getting comfortable in one-goal games and winning one-goal games is important.”

The next-best chance for Binghamton came as Tangradi got behind the defense, but his backhand attempt at the right post was pushed aside by Hogberg.

Video’s a keeper

The B-Devils released an entertaining Christmas video Thursday. Dennehy, Johnson and assistant coach Sergei Brylin were among those who starred in the video.

The premise was Johnson’s over-enthusiasm for the Christmas season.

“(B-Devils radio man) Rob (Lippolis) brought it to my attention and asked if I’d be a part of it,” Dennehy said. “Anybody who knows me knows there isn’t a mic I won’t get in front of. With that said, we all know (assistant coach) Sergei Brylin stole the show. Cam might have been the star, but we all know that ancillary roles steal the show. I don’t know if he’s got a screen actor’s guild, yet. I’m going to sign him up for an Oscar.”

Brylin said one word in the video. When Johnson tries to get Brylin to join him in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” Brylin simply says, “No.”

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Binghamton Senators' Brian McGrattan, top, gets into a fight with Syracuse Crunch's Brandon Sudgen in the first period of the Senator's home opener in October 2004. McGrattan will enter the Binghamton Hockey Hall of Fame on Friday, April, 6, 2018. file photo

Binghamton Senators winger Brian McGrattan is pinned against the boards behind the Springfield Falcons net by the knees of the Falcons' Boyd Kane as they battled for the puck in a game in March 2003. file photo

Rochester's Ryan Jorde (L) squares off with Binghamton's Brian McGrattan in the second period in October 2002. McGrattan was charged with a double minor for head butting but the Amerks still couldn't score on the powerplay. File photo

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-Rochester's Doug Janik (3) is sandwiched between checks from Binghamton's Charlie Stephens (32) and Brian McGrattan (19) in March 2004. The play led to a fight betweeen Janik and McGrattan. McGrattan later fought Sean McMorrow. File photo

Binghamton Senators #19, Brian McGrattan and Syracuse Crunch #54, Alex Johnstone go at it Thursday night, in the first period of play at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in October 2003. file photo

Binghamton Senators coach John Paddock, goalie Ray Emery and tough guy Dennis Bonvie (foreground) begin their defense of the AHL's East Division title in Philadelphia in October 2003. Other returning members of that championship team are, from left to right, David Hymovitz, Josh Langfeld, Julien Vauclair, Alexandre Giroux, Andy Hedlund, Chris Kelly, Brian McGrattan, Christoph Schubert and Steve Bancroft. file photo

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“It was partially by choice and partially I was forced into it,” Johnson said. “Usually, you have to let the veteran guys take their pick for things like that and they it blank until the last day. I had to step up and I was excited to do it.”

The video received 56,000-plus views on Twitter, 730 likes and 177 retweets.